Image cred: Des Moines Register
OSU, mercifully, is off this weekend. Thank God. There will be no Pokes-related suffering this Saturday.
In other news, I need to make better picks. I think that doing this as a competition has caused me to make a few riskier picks this year that I might not have otherwise. Of course, you do such things in order to gain an edge, but I’ve found over the years that that kind of strategy doesn’t generally pay off. Need to get back to my old tack.
WHISKEY CUP STANDINGS
Trent last week: 6-2 (.750)
Trent overall: 37-12 (.755)
Nate last week: 5-3 (.625)
Nate overall: 33-16 (.673)
Friday
Cincinnati 27, BYU 30. The scheduling folks at the Big 12 office should’ve known better than to do this—pitting both of these conference newcomers against each other in their inaugural Big 12 games. Oh well. Cincy actually looked decent in the first half against OU last week, but couldn’t seem to get anything to go right in the second at all, ultimately looking outclassed and overpowered by the Sooners.
Saturday
No. 24 Kansas 30, No. 3 Texas 37. I have remained a Texas skeptic all year, mostly because we don’t generally know anything about UT until the Red River Shootout and the games that follow. So: even with the Bama win, I’m not quite on the Bevo Bandwagon. I’ll take KU to beat the spread, though not to win.
Houston 24, Texas Tech 27. Tough pick here. In a year with high expectations—or at least higher ones than normal—Texas Tech finds itself 1-3. All three losses have come by one score or less, though, whereas Houston has looked even more lost. Tech’s starting quarterback went down last week, though, so this may be an adventure.
Baylor 14, UCF 35. Boy, my upset pick last week—BU over Texas—looked as stupid as anything I’ve predicted this year. I’ll take the Citronauts by a bunch in their home Big 12 opener.
Iowa State 9, No. 14 Oklahoma 24. OU is a twenty point home favorite here, in the ostensible finale for some time in this series, begun in TK. I wouldn’t be surprised if they win by more than that, although I’m going with the under here.
West Virginia 26, TCU 31. It has been such a very long time since WVU has been any good at all that the 3-1 record currently sported by Neal Brown’s squad looks positively strange. A win in Fort Worth would be huge—and not entirely improbable: Brown has a 3-1 record versus the Frogs, with his only loss coming last year.